Also, we now have some documentation in place. Check out [[Help:Contents]] for more.

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|'''Read the Featured Article'''

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==The Ancestry.com Wiki is still in beta==

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What does this mean? It means that, though all the bells and whistles aren’t in place, we’re ready for you to take a look at what we have and even start adding your own stuff. This means a few important things:

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<div style="margin-left: 1.5%;">[[File:AdoptionRecords-lores.jpg|right|thumb|200px]]'''Selected Proceedings and Courts'''<p>Adoption records usually result from court processes, although there are three methods through which adoption can take place: (1) agreement without judicial proceedings, (2) agreement filed in a court of law and accompanied by court order, and (3) petition filed in a court of law and accompanied by a court order. The first method is not considered legally binding in most states today. Read more [[Selected Proceedings and Courts|here]].</p></div>

*We are continuing to add more content and making changes, so keep your eye on the [[Special:RecentChanges|Recent changes]] page.

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|'''Explore the Wiki'''

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==What's in the Wiki?==

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<div style="margin-left: 1.5%;">The Ancestry.com Wiki is made up of four kinds of fantastic content:

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The Ancestry.com Wiki is made up of four kinds of fantastic content:

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*''[[The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy]]''

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*''[[Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources]]''

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*''[[The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy]]'' has been called the bible of genealogy. Focusing mainly on record types and methodology, ''The Source'' is one of the best places to learn how to do genealogy. Now, the third edition of this book has been broken into easy-to-read articles. Explore it to learn more about

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*Other great Ancestry.com content

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**[[Overview of the U.S. Census|Census records]],

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*'''Content added by you'''

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**[[Overview of Military Records|Military records]],

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**[[Overview of Immigration Research|Immigration records]],

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We know that each genealogist is an expert in his or her own field and we invite you share your expertise. If that means correcting some outdated information from one of our printed sources, that’s great. If it means writing a brand new article about a topic we haven’t covered yet, even better.</div>

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**[[Overview of African American Research|African American research]],

*''[[Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources]]'' looks at each state and offers an in-depth look at what records are available and where to go to find them. As one of the most valuable books in place-based research, it has helped researchers for more than 20 years. As with ''The Source'', we’ve broken the third edition into great, easy-to-use sections, which include

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**state-by-state summaries of available records,

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|'''Contribute to the Wiki'''

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**extensive tables of county resources,

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**incredible maps,

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<div style="margin-left: 1.5%;">Our wiki is growing fast, but you can help it grow even faster. Check out some of these pages that are just waiting to be created. To get started, click the title and start writing.

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**and [[:Category:Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources|more]].

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*[[Association of Professional Genealogists]]

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*The Ancestry.com Wiki will also continue to add other great Ancestry.com content, including other books, how-to information, and original articles written by the experts.

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*[[Periodical Source Index]]

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*Most importantly, '''the Ancestry.com Wiki includes content added by you'''. We know that each genealogist is an expert in his or her own field and we invite you share your expertise. If that means correcting some outdated information from one of our printed sources, that’s great. If it means writing a brand new article about a topic we haven’t covered yet, even better.

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*[[Soldiertown, Maine]]

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*[[Tintype]]

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The Ancestry.com Wiki is designed to be as useful to you as possible. If it’s not helping you do a better job in your research, then get involved, bring your own experience to the table, and encourage your fellow researchers to do the same. This is a community project. Get involved!

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*[[1890 Census Substitute]]

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=How the wiki works=

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See the whole list [[Special:WantedPages|here]]. For help writing and editing articles, see our [[Help:Contents|help page]].</div>

A wiki is a website that is editable by anyone. For example, [http://www.wikipedia.org Wikipedia] is a wiki. Because anyone can edit, update, or add articles, a wiki can tap into the strengths and experience of a community.

Every change that is made is saved so if someone makes a change that turns out not to be right, it’s easy to revert to an earlier version. As users make changes, they include reasons for their changes, so that others can see what happened and why. If there is ever a conflict about a change, each article has a discussion page, where users can figure out the best way to go.

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<div style="margin-left: 1.5%;">The Ancestry.com Wiki is built using MediaWiki, the same platform used by Wikipedia, the FamilySearch Wiki, and WeRelate, so if you have used any of those great resources, your knowledge should transfer perfectly. In any case, the following articles are here to help you master the Ancestry.com Wiki.

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*[[Help:Registering for the Ancestry.com Wiki|Registering and logging in]]

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=How to get involved=

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*[[Help:Editing pages|Editing an article]]

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*[[Help:Starting a new page|Starting a new article]]

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Since '''the Ancestry.com Wiki is still in beta''', the best way to get involved is to just get reading, editing, and adding content. A wiki only works if it’s built atop a vibrant community. Ancestry.com has one of the best communities in the world and together, we will create the best resource for family history knowledge available.

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*[[Help:Watchlist|Keeping track of interesting articles]]

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*[[Help:Images|Adding an image to an article]]

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Here are a few ways to get started:

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For more help, go to our [[Help:Contents|user guide]].</div>

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*To search for an article, type the topic you’re interested in into the search box on the left toolbar.

Adoption records usually result from court processes, although there are three methods through which adoption can take place: (1) agreement without judicial proceedings, (2) agreement filed in a court of law and accompanied by court order, and (3) petition filed in a court of law and accompanied by a court order. The first method is not considered legally binding in most states today. Read more here.

We know that each genealogist is an expert in his or her own field and we invite you share your expertise. If that means correcting some outdated information from one of our printed sources, that’s great. If it means writing a brand new article about a topic we haven’t covered yet, even better.

Contribute to the Wiki

Our wiki is growing fast, but you can help it grow even faster. Check out some of these pages that are just waiting to be created. To get started, click the title and start writing.

See the whole list here. For help writing and editing articles, see our help page.

Get Help

The Ancestry.com Wiki is built using MediaWiki, the same platform used by Wikipedia, the FamilySearch Wiki, and WeRelate, so if you have used any of those great resources, your knowledge should transfer perfectly. In any case, the following articles are here to help you master the Ancestry.com Wiki.